Protean Electric showcasing in-wheel drive system in BRABUS Hybrid at SAE World Congress

Protean Electric, the global leader in electric in-wheel motors, will showcase its award-winning in-wheel motor Protean Drive system in a BRABUS Hybrid at the SAE 2012 World Congress 24-26 April. The event will mark the BRABUS Hybrid’s premier North American appearance.

BRABUS, the independent automobile tuner, chose Protean’s electric in-wheel motors to power its “Technology Project Hybrid” based on the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The BRABUS Hybrid vehicle is equipped with two Protean Drive wheel motors, which power the rear wheels, along with the vehicle’s diesel engine.

Each Protean motor adds 80 kW (110 hp) and 800 N·m (590 lb-ft) of peak torque, which, when combined with the 2.2-liter common-rail turbo-diesel engine, give the BRABUS Hybrid an acceleration of 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 7.4 seconds and 60-120 km/h (37-75 mph) of 5.6 seconds.

Protean Drive says its system can improve fuel economy by up to 30% in a plug-in hybrid application.

Protean Electric will present a paper (2012-01-1037) at the World Congress, “Integrating In-Wheel Motors into Vehicles - Real World Experiences”.

Comments

[Herm]

Imagine a couple of smaller motors driving the front wheels of lite duty pickup!.. 15kW per motor would be fine, with built-in inverters, hopefully light and $500 each.

Yes, dream on :)

[Engineer-Poet]

30% improvement seems low for a plug-in hybrid with 160 kW of e-power.  Those should be able to push the car by themselves during most operating conditions.

[HarveyD]

Is it 30% over and above regular hybrid configuration or regular ICEV?

Recent very high power density in-wheel e-motors should increase HEVs, PHEVs and EVs efficiency due to reduced weight and higher braking/deceleration energy recovery.